5 Awesome Tropical Plants

How could I come all the way to Mexico and not do a post about some of the amazing tropical plants all around me? The abundance of useful plant life around is crazy. Yes, all plants are 'useful' in that they give us air to breathe and are inherently beautiful but the usefulness of the plants here goes beyond that. Everywhere you look there is food or medicine growing all around you. I find myself walking the streets staring up at the trees looking for what they have to offer. Some of the trees I saw on my way to the store this morning include: mango, lime, tamarind, noni, neem and of course coconut(and those are just the edible ones I took note of). There is just something really special about being able to look out the window and seeing a tree COVERED in mangoes. From where I am sitting now, I can see just that(along with all the coconuts you could ever want).

I picked five awesome tropical plants to highlight here for you. Enjoy (:

Agave

Agave tequilana, Blue Agave

Colin with the giant Blue Agave

Agave americana 'Marginata' 

The agave plants here can get so massive! They can live from 10-30 years and grow 10ft wide. Towards the end of an agave's life, it'll shoot up a flower stalk that can reach up to 26ft tall. As most of the plants here are very useful, this one is where tequila comes from. Well, tequila only comes from Blue Agave, but you can make mezcal from other types of agave. (Tequila is a type of mezcal- you can learn all about the differences here.) The leaves of the agave plant also contain a fiber that can be used for rope making and a special form of leather embroidery called Piteado.

Bay Leaf Palm

Sabal mauritiiformis

These bright green palms were everywhere around the ruins of Muyil. It was so cool to be walking through the dark jungle and see the sun shining on these big leaves, like big greens suns throughout the forest. The Mayans, and many still today, used these leaves for thatching roofs. (Learn more about Mayan roofing here)  Below is a photo I took of a thatched roof in Tulum. The leafs can also be used to make baskets and other crafts.

Nopal

I tried nopal for my first time on this trip. I had eaten the prickly pear fruit before but I didn't know you could eat the paddy as well. Some other names for the nopal cactus are opuntia, nopalli, prickly pear, cactus pear fruit, nopol, tuna cardona or “tuna”, and westwood-pea. Nopal was a warrior food for the Aztecs. It was believed to give courage and resolution. It is now found that it has antioxidant and cholesterol-lowering properties. Check out this site to learn lots about nopal's health benefits, along with some recipes.  

Ficus Tree

Ficus growing on the Muyil ruins

In Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve

Monkey climbing at the Muyil ruins

Dana on the ficus growing on the Muyil ruins

Roots growing into the Tulum ruins

Ficus trees are some of my favorite magical jungle trees. I mean.. look at them. They can send roots down from their branches and plant themselves all around them, growing huge. This feature was incorporated into Mayan building techniques. They "employed Ficus trees planted around their pyramids, so that its hanging roots would provide for an tight external framing that together with the cement would render the buildings resistant to the ever present hurricanes of the region."(source) In the photos above you can see that some are a bit too close to the pyramids (on them!), and will eventually destroy the buildings. But, so it goes, the jungle will take back what belongs to it. 


Coconut Tree

I couldn't not mention the coconut tree. You can't go outside without seeing these everywhere. From where I am sitting, I can count 16. Americans are in recent years finally discovering all the uses of the coconut tree. There are a zillion websites claiming a zillion benefits and uses of coconut oil(here's a list of 107 uses..random number). Ooo and the miraculous hydration powers of coconut water(peace out hangover). I unfortunately had food poisoning yesterday and was in great need of re-hydrating. Today I took full advantage of these awesome trees. Laying under an umbrella with a fresh coconut watching the ocean... it was a pretty nice way to recover.  


I could go on and on about all the awesome tropical plants here. I love them so much! Maybe I'll have to do another post about some more later. For now, enjoy these. 

Showing my love <3